President Donald Trump speak to members of the media regarding the on going situation in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminister, N.J. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

(Newser)
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Much has been made about President Trump's decision to place blame "on many sides" in his initial comments about the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend, rather than specifically denounce white supremacists by name. The White House was out with a statement on Sunday that the Hill frames as defending the president's words and Politico sees as clarifying them. It reads in part: "The president said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry, and hatred. Of course that includes white supremacists, KKK Neo-Nazi and all extremist groups."

The Washington Post's take: "The White House's clarification stopped far short of what a growing number of Republicans have urged the president to do: directly call out and condemn white supremacy." On CNN's State of the Union, White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert suggested that not calling out white supremacists was intentional, in that Trump "didn't dignify the names of these groups of people, but rather addressed the fundamental issue," per the Hill. But the Post notes that the lack of specificity was hailed by the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi/white supremacy site that posted, "Trump comments were good. He didn't attack us. He just said the nation should come together. Nothing specific against us. ... When asked to condemn, he just walked out of the room. Really, really good. God bless him."

Why is it that when some Muslim kills...? He is a lone idiot NOT representing his group or Religion. and we should NEVER draw any conclusions or ties to him or to his faith. But when a Off the wall Ohioan drives over people in SC. We fully blame White Supremacy, and insist that the WHOLE World to condemn White Supremacy. By asking the President to condemn White Supremacy. = Declaring this is a White Exclusive Supremacy Event. When in FACT they are as NON-Related as a Muslim representing his WHOLE Race.

Himself

Aug 14, 2017 9:13 AM CDT

'It will be called Americanism': the US writers who imagined a fascist future From Sinclair Lewis and Philip Roth to Donald Trump’s favorite film,Citizen Kane, US culture has long told stories about homegrown authoritarianism. What can we learn from them? “To have enslaved America with this hocus-pocus! To have captured the mind of the world’s greatest nation without uttering a single word of truth! Oh, the pleasure we must be affording the most malevolent man on earth!” These words come near the end of Philip Roth’s 2004 novel The Plot Against America, but for some they could have been written yesterday. The election of Donald J Trump as president has been called “unimaginable”, but the truth is many people did imagine the forces that have brought him to power, or versions of them; we just stopped listening to them. In 1944, an article called “American Fascism” appeared in the New York Times, written by then vice president Henry Wallace. “A fascist,” wrote Wallace, “is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.” Wallace predicted that American fascism would only become “really dangerous” if a “purposeful coalition” arose between crony capitalists, “poisoners of public information” and “the KKK type of demagoguery”. Those defending the new administration insist it isn’t fascism, but Americanism. This, too, was foretold: in 1938, a New York Times reporter warned: “When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labelled ‘made in Germany’; it will not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course, ‘Americanism’.” MAGA https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/03/americanism-us-writers-imagine-fascist-future-fiction

GeorgeSanchez

Aug 14, 2017 4:23 AM CDT

God forbid anyone should point a finger at liberal bigotry..... THANK GOD for Mr. Trump, after decades of Presidential soundbite parrots.